Method of displaying menu based on depth information and space gesture of user

ABSTRACT

A method of displaying a menu based on at least one of a depth information and a space gesture is provided. The method including determining depth information corresponding to a distance from a screen of a user terminal to a hand of a user; identifying at least one layer among a plurality of layers based on the depth information; and applying a graphic effect to the identified layer so that a menu page corresponding to the at least one identified layer is displayed on the screen of the user terminal.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority from Korean Patent Application No.10-2013-0014002 filed on Feb. 7, 2013 in the Korean IntellectualProperty Office and Korean Patent Application No. 10-2013-0147534 filedon Nov. 29, 2013 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, thedisclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in itsentireties.

BACKGROUND 1. Field

Methods and apparatuses consistent with exemplary embodiments relate toa method of displaying a menu based on depth information and a spacegesture of a user.

2. Description of the Related Art

A two-dimensional (2D) display based on a touch interface may enable auser to execute a desired application by directly touching a menu iconarranged in the 2D display. That is, the user may deliver his or herintention to a device by touching a screen of the display. This methodmay achieve a high reliability user interface (UI).

However, because the user needs to directly touch a display of thedevice, when a hand of the user is, for example, wet or wearing a glove,or the display is remote from the user, the user may not be able todeliver his or her intention to the device. Furthermore, in the 2Ddisplay based on the touch interface, the user needs to touch a desiredpage to select a menu icon or needs to transfer to the page includingthe menu icon by changing pages by dragging.

SUMMARY

According to an aspect of an exemplary embodiment, there is provided amethod of displaying a menu based on depth information, the methodincluding measuring the depth information corresponding to a distancefrom a screen of a user terminal to a hand of a user, identifying atleast one layer among a plurality of layers based on the depthinformation, and applying a graphic effect to the at least one layer ofthe plurality of layers so that a menu page corresponding to the atleast one identified layer appears on the screen of the user terminal.

The method may further include detecting a transfer from a first layerto a second layer based on the depth information, wherein the applyingof the graphic effect includes applying the graphic effect to at leastthe first layer such that a first menu page corresponding to the firstlayer gradually disappears while a second menu page corresponding to thesecond layer gradually appears.

The applying of the graphic effect may include increasing visibility ofthe second menu page corresponding to the second layer, and reducingvisibility of the first menu page corresponding to the first layer.

The method may further include detecting a transfer from a first layerto a second layer based on the depth information, wherein the applyingof the graphic effect includes comparing the distance from the screen tothe hand of the user with a predetermined distance, and applying thegraphic effect, using a result of the comparing to the second layer suchthat a menu page corresponding to the second layer appears over a menupage corresponding to the first layer in a discontinuous manner.

The determining the depth information may include measuring the depthinformation corresponding to the distance from the screen of the userterminal to the hand of the user using at least one dynamic visionsensor (DVS).

The measuring the depth information may include measuring the depthinformation corresponding to the distance from the screen of the userterminal to the hand of the user based on a difference between a firsthand position in an image output from a first DVS and a second handposition in an image output from a second DVS.

The measuring of the depth information may include measuring the depthinformation of the hand of the user using at least one of a differenceof positions of the hand measured by two image sensors, and using a timeof flight (ToF) sensor.

The menu page corresponding to the plurality of layers may display themenu based on depth information including a two-dimensional (2D) screen.

The method may further include hierarchically displaying menu pagescorresponding to the plurality of layers.

Any one of the menu pages corresponding to the plurality of layersincludes at least one of icons corresponding to a plurality ofapplications, a plurality of emoticons, and a virtual keyboard.

According to an aspect of another exemplary embodiment, there isprovided a method of displaying a menu based on a space gesture, themethod including displaying at least one polyhedron including aplurality of surfaces, receiving a space gesture of a user for rotatingthe polyhedron, identifying a surface of the at least one polyhedroncorresponding to the space gesture among the plurality of surfaces ofthe at least one polyhedron, and displaying a menu corresponding to theidentified surface.

The identifying of the surface may include identifying the surfaceaccording to a rotational change of the space gesture, and thedisplaying of the menu may include displaying a second menucorresponding to a second surface of the polyhedron identified by achange in the space gesture, over the menu corresponding to the surfacethat was first identified and displayed.

The recognizing the space gesture of the user may include recognizingthat the space gesture of the user is a predetermined motion foroperation of another polyhedron disposed inside or outside of thepolyhedron.

The identifying of the surface may include identifying a surfacecorresponding to a position of a pinch zoom motion among the pluralityof surfaces included in the another polyhedron in response to the pinchzoom motion being the space gesture.

The recognizing of the space gesture of the user may include comparing adistance, from a screen to a hand of the user, with a predetermineddistance, and recognizing that the space gesture of the user is foroperation of another polyhedron disposed inside or outside of the atleast one polyhedron based on a result of the comparing.

The method may further include hierarchically displaying the at leastone polyhedron including the plurality of surfaces.

Any one of menus corresponding to the plurality of layers may includeicons corresponding to a plurality of applications, another one of themenus includes a plurality of emoticons, or still another one of themenus includes a virtual keyboard. The recognizing the space gesture ofthe user may include recognizing the space gesture of the user forrotating the at least one polyhedron using at least one dynamic visionsensor (DVS).

The recognizing the space gesture of the user may include: recognizingthe space gesture of the user for rotating the at least one polyhedronbased on a coordinate difference between a first image output from afirst DVS and a second image output from a second DVS, wherein the firstimage and the second image correspond to the space gesture performed ina predetermined space.

The recognizing of the space gesture of the user may include measuring aposition, a transfer speed, and an angular velocity of the space gesturedone with a hand of the user, and recognizing the space gesture of theuser using a result of the measuring.

The menus corresponding to the plurality of surfaces of the at least onepolyhedron may have similar properties to one another.

The menus corresponding to the plurality of surfaces of the at least onepolyhedron may include a 2D screen.

Other features and aspects will be apparent from the following detaileddescription, the drawings, and the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects will be more apparent by describing certainexemplary embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a flowchart illustrating a method of displaying a menu basedon depth information, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a user terminal thatmeasures depth information and a method of measuring depth information,according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a screen of the user terminaldisplaying a menu page corresponding to at least one layer identified bya method similar to, for example, the method shown in FIG. 1, accordingto an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method of displaying a menu basedon a space gesture of the user, according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a method of recognizing andprocessing a space gesture of the user differently according to adistance from the screen to a hand of the user, according to anexemplary embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a user terminalrecognizing the space gesture of the user and a method of recognizingthe space gesture by the user terminal, according to an exemplaryembodiment; and

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a screen of a user terminal displayinga menu corresponding to an identified surface among a plurality ofsurfaces included in at least one polyhedron, according to an exemplaryembodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

The following detailed description is provided to assist the reader ingaining a comprehensive understanding of the methods, apparatuses,and/or systems described herein. Accordingly, various changes,modifications, and equivalents of the methods, apparatuses, and/orsystems described herein will be suggested to those of ordinary skill inthe art. The progression of processing steps and/or operations describedis an example; however, the sequence of and/or operations is not limitedto that set forth herein and may be changed as is known in the art, withthe exception of steps and/or operations necessarily occurring in aparticular order. In addition, respective descriptions of well-knownfunctions and constructions may be omitted for increased clarity andconciseness.

Throughout the drawings and the detailed description, unless otherwisedescribed, the same drawing reference numerals will be understood torefer to the same elements, features, and structures. The relative sizeand depiction of these elements may be exaggerated for clarity,illustration, and convenience.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart illustrating a method of displaying a menu basedon depth information, according to an exemplary embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 1, a user terminal according to the exemplaryembodiment may measure the depth information corresponding to a distancefrom a screen of the user terminal to a hand of the user in operation110.

In operation 110, the user terminal may measure the depth information ofthe hand of the user, using a difference of positions of the hand,recognized on the screen of the user terminal, that is, within apredetermined distance from the screen of the user terminal using aplurality of image sensors, or using a time of flight (ToF) sensor.Here, the ToF sensor refers to a sensor that detects depth informationof a target by instantly measuring a distance. Specifically, the sensordetermines distance based on the speed of light and by measuring thetime of flight of the light signal that is propagated between the sensorand the subject. According to one or more exemplary embodiments, the ToFsensor may be one of at least an RF-modulated light source with phasedetector or a range gated imager.

In operation 130, the user terminal may identify at least one layeramong a plurality of layers based on the depth information measured inoperation 110. Here, the plurality of layers may be virtual layers whichinclude different layers corresponding to the depth information.

In operation 150, the user terminal may apply a graphic effect to atleast one layer of the plurality of layers such that a menu pagecorresponds to the at least one layer identified in operation 130appears.

Any one of the menu pages corresponding to the plurality of layers mayinclude icons corresponding to a plurality of applications. Another oneof the menu pages may include a plurality of emoticons. Further, anothermenu page may include icons corresponding to digital content such aspictures, videos, documents, etc. Still another one of the menu pagesmay include a virtual keyboard. The virtual keyboard may be an inputkeyboard including Korean character keys, English character keys,numeric keys, special character keys, and the like.

The menu pages corresponding to the plurality of layers may be expressedas a 2D screen on the user terminal.

For example, the user terminal may display all menu pages correspondingto the plurality of layers hierarchically as shown in the screen of FIG.3.

Here, the user terminal may increase visibility of a menu pagecorresponding to the at least one layer identified in operation 130while reducing visibility of a menu page corresponding to at least oneremaining layer.

In addition, the user terminal may detect a transfer from a first layerto a second layer based on the depth information measured in operation110. Here, the user terminal may apply the graphic effect to at leastone layer of the plurality of layers such that a menu page correspondingto the first layer gradually disappears whereas a menu pagecorresponding to the second layer gradually appears.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the user terminal may compare adistance from the screen to the hand with a predetermined distance. Theuser terminal may then apply a graphic effect to at least one layer ofthe plurality of layers such that the menu page corresponding to thesecond layer appears from the menu page corresponding to the first layerin a discontinuous manner.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a user terminal thatmeasures depth information and a method of measuring the depthinformation, according to an exemplary embodiment. The measuring ofdepth information as shown in FIG. 2 may be done in accordance with themethod of FIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 2, the user terminal that executes the method ofdisplaying the menu based on the depth information may include a touchsensor panel (TSP) 210 and a dynamic vision sensor (DVS) 230 for spacerecognition. Here, the TSP 210 may have high sensitivity capacitance.

The DVS 230 may be a sensor adapted to measure depth informationcorresponding to the distance from the screen of the user terminal tothe hand of the user 250.

Therefore, in an exemplary embodiment, the depth information correspondsto the distance from the screen, for example the TSP 210, to the hand250 or a finger tip 251 of the user may be measured by the DVS 230.

Besides the DVS 230, various other sensors, for example, an imagesensor, a ToF sensor, an infrared (IR) sensor combined with an active IRlight source, a glove type strain sensor, an acceleration sensor, a gyrosensor, and the like, may be used to measure the depth information.

In an exemplary embodiment, a finger may be detected by the DVS 230 in anon-contacting manner at a certain distance from the screen of the userterminal, for example, within a predetermined threshold distance. Next,the user terminal may identify a layer corresponding to the position,and select and display a menu page corresponding to the identifiedlayer.

According to another exemplary embodiment, when two DVSs 230 are used, adifference may be generated in positions (x, y, z) of the hand betweenimages output from the two DVSs 230. As a distance between the DVS 230and the hand is shorter, the difference of positions may be increased,according to the binocular disparity principle by which two eyes of aperson recognize a distance to an object. Therefore, the depthinformation to the hand may be measured using two DVSs 230 or otherimage sensors and using the binocular disparity principle. The ToFsensor includes a light source provided therein to scatter light onto anobject and measure the light reflected from the object using a photodiode. As the distance between the sensor and the object is longer, timetaken to detect the reflected light is increased. Using such aprinciple, the ToF sensor may recognize the depth information of thehand. Also, the depth information of the hand may be measured byrecognizing a 3D locus, a velocity change, a symbol, and the like bymeasuring a transfer velocity (vx, vy, vz) and an angular velocity usingother sensors such as an acceleration sensor and a gyro sensor.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the screen of the user terminaldisplaying the menu page corresponding to at least one layer identifiedby a method similar to, for example, the method shown in FIG. 1,according to an exemplary embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 3, a 3D space recognition user interface (UI) may beexpressed on a 2D display, by applying the graphic effect to acorresponding layer so that the menu page corresponding to theidentified layer appears based on the depth information.

For example, the user terminal may include a device such as a smartphone, a personal computer (PC), and a television (TV). The userterminal may measure or recognize the depth information corresponding toa motion of the hand of the user and the distance from the screen and/ordisplay of the user terminal to the hand.

As described above, the 3D space recognition for recognizing a 3D spacemay be implemented by a passive optical image sensor, a ToF sensor, anactive IR sensor combined with an active IR light source, a glove typestrain sensor to be worn on the hand, an acceleration sensor, a gyrosensor, and the like, capable of recognizing a 3D space.

Therefore, when the user terminal recognizes the hand motion in a spaceor a distance between the display and the finger tip, the user terminalmay provide a renovated 2D UI of a menu page appearing on a screen ofthe user terminal, by applying the graphic effect to at least one layerof a plurality of layers as shown in FIG. 3.

The user may transfer or select the menu pages on a 2D screen accordingto the depth information as if the menu pages corresponding torespective layers were present in the space. According to anotherexemplary embodiment, the user may, within a certain menu pagecorresponding to layer depth/distance from the screen, move laterallyalong a plane parallel to the screen surface. Such a movement wouldallow a user to select, at each menu depth, different options, controls,or content provided by that menu. Then, when the user again moves closeror farther from the display screen, thereby affecting the depthinformation, the next or previous menu layer associated may be displayedin accordance with both the parallel location point selected as well asthe depth information.

The ‘menu pages’ corresponding to the respective layers may includeconcepts of not only different menu pages including the iconscorresponding to the various applications but also a sub menucorresponding to a menu or icon selected from one menu page or contentsincluded in the sub menu.

In addition, the 2D screen may be designed such that a desired menu pageis transferred when the distance between the user terminal and the handis reduced. That is, the user may consider a virtual menu page layer aspresent in the space and control the menu page displayed on the screenof the user terminal.

The user terminal may apply the graphic effect such that a menu page 310corresponding to a first layer gradually disappears while a menu page320 corresponding to a second layer gradually appears and becomes clear,as the distance between the hand of the user and a surface 305 of thedisplay is reduced. Particularly, as the hand moves from a hand position311 to a hand position 321 the menu page 310 may fade into the menu page320.

For example, the respective layers may be expressed as a 3D imagethrough the display of the user terminal in FIG. 3. The first layer maybe disposed at an upper part and have a small 3D depth to be recognizedby the user as being close. In a direction toward the second layer, athird layer, and a fourth layer, arranged heights of the menu pagescorresponding to the layers may be reduced and have larger 3D depths tobe recognized as far from the user with respect to the screen of theuser terminal.

That is, the menu page 310 corresponding to the first layer, for examplea main menu page, may be arranged at a top position. Subsequently, the3D depth may be increased in order of the menu page 320 corresponding tothe second layer, for example a main page of an e-BOOK icon selectedfrom the main menu page, a menu page 330 corresponding to the thirdlayer, for example a sub page or product page provided by an e-BOOKapplication selected from the main menu page, and a menu page 340corresponding to the fourth layer, for example a payment page for aselected product.

Depending on embodiments, the user terminal may compare the distancefrom the screen to the hand of the user with the predetermined distancewhen detecting a transfer from the first layer to the second layer basedon the depth information. For example, when the hand moves from a handposition 311 to a hand position 321. As a result of the comparison, whenthe distance from the screen to the hand is the predetermined distance,the user terminal may apply the graphic effect such that the menu pagecorresponding to the second layer appears from the menu pagecorresponding to the first layer discontinuously or suddenly. Similartransitions may be implemented as the hand moves from hand position 321,to hand position 331, which corresponds to the third layer and menu page330. Thus, this may also be implemented when the hand moves from handposition 331 to hand position 341, which corresponds to the fourth layerand menu page 340. According to another exemplary embodiment, there mayexist more than, or less than, the shown layers, menu pages, and handpositions.

In addition, according to an exemplary embodiment, when the hand of theuser moves horizontally by a predetermined distance on a space separatedfrom the screen of the user terminal, the user terminal may detect thetransfer and display a next menu page by changing a current menu page tothe next menu page.

Accordingly, a touch-based user UI, in which the user has to touch anddrag pages one by one to select menus, may be avoided in part or inhole. Furthermore, intuitional interaction between the user and the userterminal may be achieved.

Moreover, the user terminal may display all the menu pages 310, 320,330, and 340 corresponding to the plurality of layers on the screentransparently and hierarchically. In this case, the user terminal mayincrease visibility of a menu page, for example the menu page 310,corresponding to at least one identified layer among the plurality oflayers, and reduce visibility of a menu page corresponding to at leastone remaining layer, for example the layers 320, 330, and 340, therebyindicating that the menu page corresponding to the at least oneidentified layer, for example the first layer, is currently selected.

According to the embodiment of FIG. 3, layers of pages including menusare naturally moved in the space using the depth information. However,various applications expanded form this embodiment may be considered.

For example, the input keyboard, that is, the virtual keyboard,including character keys, numeric keys, special character keys, and thelike used for the user to input characters may be implemented using avirtual space layer as aforementioned. Also, a group of variousemoticons may be implemented using the virtual space layer.

That is, any one of the menu pages corresponding to the plurality oflayers may include icons corresponding to a plurality of applications.Another one of the menu pages may include a plurality of emoticons.Still another one of the menu pages may include a virtual keyboard.

Thus, the UI is configured by displaying and transferring the menu pagesby setting the virtual space layer according to the embodiment of FIG.3. Hereinafter, a UI configured by a method of displaying menus using apolyhedron will be described.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method of displaying a menu basedon a space gesture of the user, according to an exemplary embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 4, in operation 410, a user terminal may display atleast one polyhedron including a plurality of surfaces.

In operation 420, the user terminal may recognize a space gesture of auser for operation of the at least one polyhedron.

In operation 420, the user terminal may measure a position, a transfervelocity, and an angular velocity of the hand of the user, on the screenof the user terminal, and recognize the space gesture of the user usinga result of the measurement. A method for the user terminal to recognizethe space gesture will be described with reference to FIG. 6.

In operation 420, when the space gesture of the user is a predeterminedmotion, the user terminal may recognize the predetermined motion as thespace gesture of the user for operation of another polyhedron disposedinside or outside at least one polyhedron. Here, the predeterminedmotion includes a pinch zoom motion, a motion of moving the handleftward or rightward, or a motion of creating a fist and releasing thefist.

The ‘pinch zoom motion’ may refer to a motion including pinching a spaceby a thumb and an index or middle finger of the user, and adjusting anextent of the pinching motion.

The user terminal may recognize the space gesture in a different mannerbased on the result of comparing the distance from the screen to thehand with the predetermined distance. The method for the user terminalto recognize the space gesture in a different manner will be describedwith reference to FIG. 5.

In operation 430, the user terminal may identify a surface correspondingto the space gesture among the plurality of surfaces included in the atleast one polyhedron.

The plurality of surfaces included in the at least one polyhedron mayinclude different menus. For example, any one of the menus correspondingto the plurality of surfaces may include icons corresponding to aplurality of applications. Another one of the menus may include aplurality of emoticons. Still another one of the menus may include avirtual keyboard.

When the space gesture recognized in operation 420 is the pinch zoommotion, the user terminal may identify a surface of the at least onepolyhedron corresponding to a position or size of the pinch zoom amongthe plurality of surfaces included in the at least one polyhedron, inoperation 430. For example, the surface corresponding to the position ofthe pinch zoom may be a surface corresponding to a middle or a topportion of the position or size of a span between two fingers of theuser formed in a predetermined space on the screen of the user terminalin the form of the pinch zoom.

In operation 440, the user terminal may display the menu correspondingto the surface identified in operation 430.

As the space gesture changes in operation 430, the user terminal mayidentify the surface corresponding to the changed space gesture. In thiscase, the user terminal may display the menus such that the menucorresponding to the second layer corresponding to the changed spacegesture appears continuously from the menu corresponding to the firstlayer corresponding to the space gesture before the change.

The user terminal may display at least one menu polyhedron including aplurality of surfaces in a hierarchical manner. Here, menuscorresponding to the plurality of surfaces may be expressed by a 2Dscreen.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a method of recognizing andprocessing the space gesture of the user according to a distance fromthe screen to the hand of the user, according to an exemplaryembodiment. According to another exemplary embodiment, the methodillustrated in FIG. 5 is similar to steps 420 and 430 shown in themethod of FIG. 4.

Referring to FIG. 5, in operation 510, the user terminal may measure thedistance from the screen to the hand or measure depth informationcorresponding to the distance. The user terminal may compare thedistance with a predetermined distance.

In operation 520, the user terminal may determine whether the distancefrom the screen to the hand is larger than the predetermined distance.

As a result of determination of operation 520, when the distance fromthe screen to the hand is larger than the predetermined distance, theuser terminal may recognize the space gesture of the user as the spacegesture for operation of the another polyhedron disposed outside atleast one polyhedron in operation 530.

In operation 540, the user terminal may identify the surfacecorresponding to the space gesture among the plurality of surfacesincluded in the another polyhedron disposed outside the polyhedron.

Next, the user terminal may display the menu corresponding to theidentified surface in operation 550.

Conversely, in operation 560, when the distance from the screen to thehand is smaller than the predetermined distance as a result of thedetermination of operation 520, the user terminal may recognize thespace gesture of the user as the space gesture for operation of theanother polyhedron disposed inside at least one polyhedron.

In this case, the user terminal may identify the surface correspondingto the space gesture among the plurality of surfaces included in theanother polyhedron disposed inside at least one polyhedron in operation570, and display the menu corresponding to the identified surface 550.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a user terminalrecognizing the space gesture of the user and a method of recognizingthe space gesture by the user terminal, according to an exemplaryembodiment. According to another exemplary embodiment, the method ofrecognizing the space gesture of the user illustrated in FIG. 6 issimilar to step 420 of the method of FIG. 4.

Referring to FIG. 6, the user terminal to execute the method ofdisplaying the menu based on the space gesture of the user may include aTSP 610 and DVSs 630 for space recognition. Here, the TSP 610 may havehigh sensitivity capacitance.

Here, the DVSs 630 may be sensors adapted to recognize the space gestureof the user for operation of measuring depth information correspondingto a distance from a screen of the user terminal to a hand 620 of theuser for operation of at least one polyhedron.

Specifically, according to an exemplary embodiment, the user terminalmay recognize the space gesture of the user for operation of at leastone polyhedron, using a coordinate difference that exists between animage output from a first DVS and an image output from a second DVS,with respect to the gesture of the user performed in a predeterminedspace.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the user terminal may measure aposition (x, y, z) of the hand, a depth, a transfer velocity (vx, vy,vz), and an angular velocity on the screen of the user terminal, thatis, the TSP 610, using sensors such as an acceleration sensor and a gyrosensor. In addition the user terminal may use the measurement result torecognize a 3D movement locus and a velocity change or recognize thespace gesture of the user through symbol recognition. In the samemanner, the user terminal may measure the depth informationcorresponding to the distance from the screen, that is, the TSP 610, tothe hand or finger tip of the user, using the two DVSs, image sensors,or ToF sensors.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a screen of a user terminal displayinga menu corresponding to an identified surface among a plurality ofsurfaces included in at least one polyhedron, according to an exemplaryembodiment. According to another exemplary embodiment, the exemplaryembodiment illustrated in FIG. 7 may be similar to the method of FIG. 4.

The user terminal may recognize a space gesture of a user performed in apredetermined space on the screen of the user terminal. Here, the spacegesture may be used to operate the polyhedron 710 expressed as a 2Dscreen on the user terminal 700.

For example, the polyhedron 710 may be a hexahedral cube or other 3Dshapes having more surfaces than a hexahedral cube. The plurality ofsurfaces of the polyhedron may display menus having similar properties.

For example, a cube 710 displaying different menus on differentsurfaces, for example a power management menu and surface 711, a mapmenu and surface 712, and a music menu and surface 713, may be displayedon the screen 705 of the user terminal 700. In this state, when the usermakes a gesture of holding 701 and rotating 702 a virtual cube 720 inthe predetermined space on the screen, the cube 710 displayed on thescreen may be rotated together. When the user stops moving and maintainsa predetermined time so that a desired surface comes to a top, the menucorresponding to the surface identified as a top surface of the virtualcube 720 may be displayed on the screen by the space gesture.

In addition, according to the exemplary embodiment, other cubes indifferent sizes may be present inside and outside one cube. Therefore,the user may select other cubes disposed inside or outside the cube bymaking the pinch zoom motion that separates a thumb and an index fingerholding the virtual cube or gathers the thumb and the index finger fromthe separated state, and may select menus included in other cubes.

Furthermore, depending on embodiments, another cube or layer disposedinside or outside one cube may be selected using the distance from thescreen to the hand or the depth information corresponding to thedistance as shown in FIG. 5.

According to the exemplary embodiment, the user may select a desiredmenu without having to touch and drag pages one by one by the displaymethod through the implementation and use of a 3D space UI in the 2Dscreen as described above.

In addition, according to the exemplary embodiment, intuitionalinteraction between the user and the user terminal may be achieved andnatural user experience may be provided.

A number of exemplary embodiments have been described above.Nevertheless, it should be understood that various modifications may bemade. For example, suitable results may be achieved if the describedtechniques are performed in a different order and/or if components in adescribed system, architecture, device, or circuit are combined in adifferent manner and/or replaced or supplemented by other components ortheir equivalents. Accordingly, other implementations are within thescope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of displaying a menu, the methodcomprising: determining depth information corresponding to a distancefrom a screen of a user terminal to a hand of a user; identifying afirst layer among a plurality of layers, based on the depth information;applying a first graphic effect to the identified first layer so that afirst menu page corresponding to the identified first layer is displayedon the screen, the first menu page comprising first menu items;detecting a transfer of the hand from the identified first layer to asecond layer among the plurality of layers, based on the depthinformation; and in response to the transfer of the hand from theidentified first layer to the second layer being detected based on thedepth information, applying a second graphic effect to the identifiedfirst layer and the second layer so that the first menu page graduallydisappears without moving, from being displayed on the screen to beingabsent from the screen while a second menu page corresponding to thesecond layer gradually appears without moving, from being absent fromthe screen to being displayed on the screen, and so that the first menupage appears to fade into the second menu page without the first menupage and the second menu page moving, the second menu page comprisingsecond menu items.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the applying thesecond graphic effect further comprises: increasing visibility of thesecond menu page; and reducing visibility of the first menu page.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the applying the second graphic effectcomprises: comparing the distance from the screen to the hand with apredetermined distance; and applying the second graphic effect to thesecond layer, using a result of the comparing, so that the second menupage appears over the first menu page in a discontinuous manner.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the determining the depth informationcomprises: measuring the depth information, using at least one dynamicvision sensor (DVS).
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the measuring thedepth information comprises: measuring the depth information, based on adifference between a first hand position in an image that is output froma first DVS and a second hand position in an image that is output from asecond DVS.
 6. The method of claim 4, wherein the measuring the depthinformation comprises: measuring the depth information of the hand ofthe user, using at least one among a difference of positions of the handthat are measured by two image sensors and a time of flight sensor. 7.The method of claim 1, further comprising: displaying, on the screen,the first menu page or the second menu page, based on the depthinformation, the screen comprising a two-dimensional screen.
 8. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: hierarchically displaying aplurality of menu pages corresponding to the plurality of layers.
 9. Themethod of claim 8, wherein the first menu page of the plurality of menupages comprises icons corresponding to applications, the second menupage of the plurality of menu pages comprises emoticons, and a thirdmenu page of the plurality of menu pages comprises a virtual keyboard.10. A non-transitory computer readable recording medium storing aprogram to cause a computer to execute the method of claim 1.